A Flower in the Sand
by YuYuAmie
Summary: A young girl by the name of Sara Kazama befriends Gaara as a child. However, her family is murdered and her house is burned and she is taken far away from Sunagakure to start a new life with her sensei, Ayame, in Hagakure. She spends many years training before catching up to her old friends in Konoha, but all is not as well as she'd hoped. He's no longer the Gaara she once knew..


**A Flower in the Sand**

"Do you have your Kodachi?  
>"Yes..."<br>"Do you have your ID?"  
>"Yessss..."<br>"Mmk, what about your scrolls, your antidotes, your-.."  
>"YES, AYAME-SENSEI! YES! I HAVE EVERYTHING! Can we GO now!?"<br>"Hey, don't you backtalk me young lady!" Ayame scolded.  
>"Goddamit, Ayame, we're not even in Konohagakure yet, and you're already nagging me!" I groaned.<br>"I'm just trying to make sure you're prepared, Sara! There are going to be many fearsome competitors at the Exams and its MY job to make sure you don't fail!" Ayame yelled.  
>"Nag nag nag..." I whined. "Lets go!" I strapped my acoustic guitar in its case over my shoulder along with my backpack, exiting the door without Ayame-Sensei's consent. It made her stop nagging on me mid-sentence to fallow me outside. She wasn't happy with it but I figured she'd get over it.<p>

My apologies, I didn't quite introduce myself. My name's Saralynn Kazama. I know, weird name for a Japanese girl, but my mother had a thing for that. I'm a Ninja from Sunagakure, but something happened a long time ago, and I had to go live with a friend of the family- the only friend my family had in the Ninja Villages- Ayame Reashi. She took me home with her in Hagakure and in turn, became my Sensei. I don't have any team mates, its just her and me. See, In Hagakure we do things a bit differently. Instead of a Sensei manning a three-squad team, a talented Jonin Ninja chooses only one successor to learn their powers and secrets, and Ayame was no slacker. Ever since I was a child, shes been working me and nagging on me like a goddamn slave-driver! On top of that she never let me leave the village! Until now~ As you can imagine, I'm super-pumped! Not only was I going to rank-up to become a Chunin, but I finally was going to get a little taste of the outside world! A little freedom! Ha! That's totally something I don't get everyday and I'll be damned if I take it for granted! On top of that, Ninja from all over the neighboring states where going to be there, which granted me the chance to rekindle the relationships with my old friends from Sunagakure. On this day, I couldn't possibly be more excited! I guess I'm sort of putting Ayame down, though. Life with Ayame isn't all that bad. When we're not training-which actually is like..almost never though..Ayame basically lets me do whatever. I mean sometimes she nags at me about the way I eat, and sit, and walk, and speak...And shes a total grammar nazi-Okay. I lied. Living with Ayame is a total pain.. The only upsides really, is she lets me dress however I want and doesn't really care if I use vulgar language..Which..Depending on who you are, could be a good or a bad thing.

It was quite a long walk to Konohagakure and it gave me quite some time to think. I was surprised that Ayame actually kept quiet and didn't nag me the entire fuckin' way, whew, what a PLEASANT SURPRISE! -w- I looked back at her a few times to make sure she was okay. She seemed too busy taking in the beautiful landscapes to be nagging on me. Halfway there, I got bored and started playing my guitar. It kept Ayame quiet and relaxed, which had the same effect on me since it kept her from pointing out my every flaw the entire way. We where ID'ed at the gates, and I put my guitar away and looked around. It was a beautiful village, no doubt, and many ninjas from all-over where there, as Ayame had said. I looked around for my friends, and they finally caught my eye. I ran towards them as fast as I could, excited and oh so happy~

"Does this hurt, punk?" Kankuro asked, holding Konohamaru by the throat.  
>He cringed and made a little whimpering noise.<br>"Put him DOWN, Kankuro! Or you know you'll pay for it later!" Temari warned.  
>"Hey...I'm sorry...The whole thing was my fault.." Sakura said, looking at Konohamaru worriedly. "Who're they!? WHAT are they!?" She thought.<br>"YOU BETTER TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF HIM RIGHT NOW!" Naruto yelled.  
>"So these are the leaf village's genin?" Kankuro thought with a big smirk on his face. "We got a few minutes before he gets here, lets mess with these punks, ah?" Kankuro grinned as Konohamaru wiggled and groaned in pain.<br>"LET GO OF ME, YOU JERK!" Konohamaru demanded, in which Kankuro replied; "You're feisty! But not for looonnngggg.." Kankuro gripped him tighter and Konohamaru groaned again.  
>"PUT HIM DOWN!" Naruto yelled, charging at him. Kankuro used one of his Chakra strings to trip Naruto.<br>"What was that!?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.  
>"You're a leaf-genin too? Looks like your village is full of wimps!" Kankuro beamed.<p>

I waltzed over to him and smirked, resting my hand on my hip.  
>"Kankuro!" I exclaimed. "Still picking on little kids, are ya?"<br>"What? Who are you, lady?" He asked, looking at me closely.  
>"Oh!" Temari exclaimed. "You!? Oh my god, it's Sara!" She grinned. "Where have you been, we haven't seen you in ages!"<br>I pointed to Ayame behind me. She had no emotion on her face, per usual. "Been training in Hagakure with the old lady!" I grinned. Ayame glared at me. Though she was a good foot or two away from me, I could feel her rage burning like a furnace for miles.  
>"Well, its so nice to see you!" Temari gave me a hug and I smiled and happily returned it.<br>"You too, I missed you guys so much!"  
>"Kankuro, this is Sara, don't you remember her? She was always at our house when we where kids." Temari explained.<br>"Oooooohhhh, you mean that little blonde girl who was always hanging around Gaara? I remember you, you're Chibi-Chan!" He laughed. "You're still short as always!" He petted my head.  
>"Shut it!" I growled, my face turning pink as I swatted his hand away. "And don't call me that, you know I always HATED that nickname!"<br>"Well, its nice to see you and all, but I have some little punks I gotta take care of!" A devilish smile appeared on his face as he sat Crow on the ground and began to unravel him.  
>"What!? You're using Crow for THIS!?" Temari looked appalled. But before Kankuro had the chance to do anything with it, a deep voice from above in the tree, next to the Uchiha kid that happened to be up there as well-that I had paid no mind to this entire time-stopped him.<br>"Kankuro..." It said. "Back off...You're an embarrassment to our village.."We all looked up.  
>I recognized him immediately. I looked shocked, surprised and all at the same time, excited, because when I saw him I lit up and turned bright pink and jumped around excitedly like a kid in a candy store. "GAAAARRRRAAA-KKUUNN!" I exclaimed loudly, giggling giddyly like a child.<br>"Um...Uh...H-Hey, Gaara..." Kankuro said timidly. Everyone was looking over at Gaara with immense fear in their eyes and the air around us was very tense. I looked at everyone else curiously, wondering why they where afraid of him. They all looked at me with the same expression, seemingly wondering why I was not afraid, and how I could call up to him so cheerfully.

Gaara looked over at me with a creepily-calm expression, however when he recognized who I was, his eyes widened a little. He jumped down and came over to me. He was about a head taller than I was. His expression was a bit menacing, and his eyes where icy and cold and filled with so much hatred.. I lost my breath when I saw that inside of him... I knew then why everyone was so afraid. Gaara glared into my eyes and stood there for a while before he told me, "..I don't know you..." But by his expression when he looked over at me, I knew he recognized me.. But something inside didn't want him to, for some reason... He looked at me not like his best friend- no, not anymore...But as an enemy...Like one of the old villagers who used to pick on him and hate on him. I was shocked to be looked upon like that by my old friend. It wasn't quite the happy reunion I had expected.  
>"But- Gaara.." I said with disappointment in my voice. "I-Its me, S-Sara..." I pleaded.<br>He looked over his shoulder and gave me an icy glare.  
>"You've got the wrong guy, I've never known anyone by that name.."<br>Ayame's eyes gave Gaara the icy stare right back, anger burned inside of her like a raging fire, but she held it in and clenched her fist. She felt something very wrong with him, she felt that he was dangerous. Not a force to be tampered with. I felt it as well, and it frightened me..What had he become? Had he finally become the monster everyone thought him to always be..? If so..Why? Why would he choose this direction..? All these questions stormed through my head..  
>But..I gave up right then.. I knew-at least for the moment- that I wouldn't be able to reach him..The Gaara I once knew was nowhere to be found in that icy stare. Not only that, but it wouldn't look good if I made a scene in front of all these people in Konohagakure. Anger bubbled up in my stomach. I clenched my fist and pouted, but forced myself to swallow it. I didn't know why he was giving me the silent treatment and the cold shoulder and pretending like he didn't even know me, but it hurt. It hurt really bad. I came here expecting a warm welcome from my old best friends, and I received quite the opposite from Gaara- the one I was excited about the most. But I knew I had to keep it inside. I didn't want to get kicked out of the village before I passed the Chunin Exams. Ayame-Sensei would not only be disappointed, but furious; which meant I'd be punished severely. She was already lit and at the end of her fuse anyways. And to be honest, I wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with Sensei's temper-tantrums just because I had to go and throw one of my own.<p>

Later on, Ayame took me to the Hokage's office. I had to fill out some paper work in order to qualify to take the Exams. Hagakure is a very small, very well-hidden village. It isn't even on the map and barely anyone even knows it exists. So Ayame opted for telling them that we where from Sunagakure, and had Temari and Kankuro vouch for us since no one else had ever seen us there before. It was a good thing that Ayame-Sensei knew a lot of people. She was able to get us official Suna-Academy Graduate Bands to make it look more authentic. We didn't have graduate-bands in the first place because I was being trained under Ayame instead of going to an academy. Adults make up about 90% of our population, so we don't have Academies for children. Therefore, we don't do the headband-thing. We both weren't in the mood to mess our hair up, apparently, and opted for instead tying the bands around our waists. Ayame also had to confirm to Hokage-Sama that she recommended me to take the exams and that she believed I was ready for them.  
>"Don't you think this is a little deceitful..?" I asked Ayame as we where leaving for our hotel.<br>"Perhaps. But what would look more suspicious? Certainly us claiming we're from a village that ceases to exist."  
>"Good point.." I replied.<br>"If you want to pass the Chunin Exams, you'll go with it."  
>"I never said I wouldn't.." I shoved her playfully. "But, only if you promise me we can visit Sunagakure after this! After all you sort of owe it to me, keeping me stuck in Hagakure all those years.."<br>"Deal."

Ayame landed us a room in a nice 4-star Japanese-Style hotel with room service and a hot spring and a view of the lake outside our window. I had no idea where the hell she got that kind of money, but I wasn't about to question it. My excitement didn't last for long though. I sat outside on the balcony and propped my feet up on the ledge with my guitar in my lap. I strummed it slowly and looked out to the setting sun, singing softly to myself.  
>"I'm standing on the bridge... I'm waiting in the dark.. I thought that you'd be here by now.. There's nothing but the rain.. No footsteps on the ground... I'm listening, but there's no sound..." My excitement about the nice hotel sort of flew out the window by then. I was upset about Gaara again. I calmed myself with the music and continued strumming. "Isn't anyone trying to find me..? Wont somebody come take me home? It's a damned, cold night! Trying to figure out this life..! Wont you...Take me by the hand, take me somewhere new...I don't know who you are, but I...I'm with you..." I sang ever so softly. "I'm with you... I'm looking for a place...I'm searching for a face...Is anybody here, I know? Caz nothing's going right, and everything's a mess..And no one likes to be alone..."<br>"Hm..But you're not alone, Sara-Chan.." Ayame placed her hand on my shoulder gently. "Come on.." She said, coaxing me back into the hotel room. "Lets go enjoy the hot spring and afterwards I'll order us some food, huh?"  
>She had that soft smile on her face that she only made when she was trying to cheer me up. Ayame usually was only good at showing her emotions when the emotion happened to be anger. However, ever since I came into her life-whenever I became upset-she would always try her best to be motherly. With this in mind, I accepted her offer. She didn't take lightly to me refusing her kindness, since obviously it wasn't something she did often. Sometimes I thought it was literally quite painful for Ayame to be kind to people. I wouldn't be surprised if it where true. As I removed my blue tank top and black capris and put them into my locker, one of the kimono-clad women working for the hotel brought Ayame and I yukatas to wear when we got out of the hot spring. I said nothing to her and merely bowed in a thank you. My throat was so tight, I felt as if my voice box was broken and I couldn't speak anymore. I looked down at my golden locket my mother had given me the day before she passed, and held onto it for a moment before opening it to revel the two pictures. On the left, a family portrait, and on the right...<br>Gaara and I.  
>When we where children, holding hands and smiling without a care in the world. It didn't help my mood at all, if anything, made it worse. The thought of him acting so coldly towards me was harder to swallow than a chunk of rotten meat slathered in wasabi. It was like, one minute..We were best friends, and the next..We were sworn enemies. It was so hard to believe... I sat the heart-shaped pendant down on my clothes and closed the locker. Ayame was waiting for me in the hot spring. I sunk in and hugged my knees close to me, resting my head on top of them. Ayame threw a rag at me.<br>"Stop being sad! Its depressing me..." She spat. No response. "Saaaarrrraaa-Chaaaaaaaaaaannnn, Come on! You know I'm not good with this..." Ayame begged. "All I can say is, if something's bothering you, sitting around wont help anything! Ya gotta get up and take charge, ya know..Do something about it! Don't just sit there and give up before you try..Isn't that something I've always told you..?"  
>I smiled just a little bit and nodded. "Yeah...I should try...I guess. But where do I start..?"<br>"You two probably just need to rekindle your relationship, I mean it has been a while and without you around, people where probably really bitchy towards Gaara and it made him grow cold. Girl, didn't I teach you that no one's a bitch without reason!?"  
>"Yes Ayame.." I sighed.<br>"Good. Then cheer the fuck up before I kick you out of my hot spring!" She giggled, playfully kicking me, nudging me, throwing rags at me, and giving me a noogie until I finally gave in.  
>I laughed and shoved her off. "Okay okay! I'll try. And I don't care what anybody says, you give good advice, Ayame.."<br>This made her blush a little. "T-Thanks..." She studdered, looking away from me so I wouldn't see. But it was too late. She couldn't hide from me.

Ayame ordered us room service and we relaxed in our yukatas, eating and talking for almost an hour. It was nice. I fell over on the floor and rubbed my stomach. "I feel so fat!" I groaned, my belly full of food. Ayame laughed and petted my hair softly until I fell asleep while laying in her lap. I was excited for tomorrow, "A fresh start to try and rekindle my friendship with Gaara, huh.." I liked the sound of that, and I fell asleep with a big smile on my face that night.

_Gaara sat on the rooftop all alone and gazed upon the star-filled sky. _  
><em>"What is SHE doing here..." He asked himself with a low growl. <em>  
><em>"Yes, what IS she doing here.." Shukaku repeated inside of his head. "Its that girl, that horrendous girl...The one who betrayed you all those years ago..." Shukaku whispered.<em>  
><em>"Be...trayed me...?" Gaara asked. Gaara thought for a moment. When he saw Sara's sweet smiling face, he never thought of anything like treachery . But then Shukaku reminded him. "Yes, she betrayed you! Don't you remember, you fool!? In the end, Sara ran away from you, too..Without a trace, without so much as saying goodbye, she ran from you just as scared as the others...You wanna know why, Gaara? Because shes just like Yashamaru! She only pretended to like you so she could sink deep down inside of you, then destroy you from the inside out! She hates you, Gaara! She HATES you! Everybody hates you! And that's why...That's why you must DESTROY everyone!" Shukaku beamed. <em>  
>"Yesssss..." <em>Gaara whispered. "You're right...I must kill her...I must.. Kill everyone...For that..Is my purpose..!" Gaara growled. He felt Shukaku's blood boiling inside of his own, and he leaped down from the roof, into the night to find his next victim. "I'll kill them- I'll kill them all!" Gaara shouted towards the moon. <em>

I woke up on my futan beside the glass doors that lead to the balcony. The sun was just now beginning to rise. Ayame was sitting in the kitchen-area of the room ordering breakfast. I rolled over on my tummy, my hair was a mess and all over the place, so much so to the point of where I couldn't see a thing through the matted strands. Ayame looked over at me and laughed, apologizing to the staff she was on the phone with and continuing to order. "Shut it..." I mouthed to her, forcing myself up. I fumbled around the floor until I found my bag and grabbed my brush out of it and brushed my mangled hair. I hadn't slept that good in a long time, even if I must have looked tired, I was well-rested and ready to go! Well, sort of. I was hungry and definitely could use a shower. So I got up to take one and got a good meal in with Ayame, and dressed in my usual outfit; My blue spagetti strap tank top and my black capris with my ninja-sandals. I wrapped bandages around my right thigh to secure my weapons pouch around it and filled it with Kunai and Shurikin, then my black belt holding my two sheathes for my Kodachi and hooked a bottle of poison to the side of it, just in case. I started brushing my now wet hair again. Ayame suggested I should tie it back out of my face, since my fringe covered one of my eyes. I dismissed the thought. I was more comfortable with it down and I could see fine. But of course, it was the day of the Exams and Ayame had to nag-nag-nag on me the entire time I was preparing for them. Ayame decided to play the, "Do you have this, do you have that?" Game with me again. I groaned. "Jesus Ayame, I'm thirteen now, not seven!" She put her hands on her hips and bent over down to my level, pouting furiously. "Well! SORRRRRYYY for looking out for you! You ungrateful brat- I'm only trying to make sure you pass your exam so you can level up..!"  
>I rolled my eyes and mocked her. "Nag nag nag..!" She took to that extremely well and I earned quite a harsh slap across the face. "Quit being a bitch or I'll drag you back to the village and you can try your luck at my own PERSONAL Chunin exam..! And believe me...You wont like that.." Ayame fumed. "You think this one's hard...You think your training with me is hard..? Oh nooooo, sweetie...I've going EASY on you..You just wait.. We do everything differently in the Hagakure village- Everything is harder yes? Just imagine our Chunin Exams.." Her eyes where icy and filled with ferociousness. It sent chills down my spine. I didn't even want to THINK about passing an exam Ayame had set up- the thought alone was too much to bear. I shuddered and didn't dare talk back to her. I finished packing my backpack and walked with Ayame to the Exams, not quite knowing what I was in for..<p> 


End file.
